Marvel Cinematic Universe Thread

[NOTW]

20 hours ago, 20Safety_Hazards said:

I don’t know a lot about Shang-Chi other than his connection with various street level defenders, most notably Iron Fist. But that whole group, Iron Fist, Heroes for Hire, etc. he’s had a few runs with.  Also Moon Knight who we are getting later. He’s had other appearances with X-men and Secret avengers but I don’t really recall what his role was.  The biggest connection to the MCU itself is his connection to the ten rings, which is the terrorist group shown in Iron Man 1 (captured Tony) and Iron Man 3 (well fraudulently through the fake Mandarin).  This trailer suggests he’s the son of the Mandarin or one of the leaders under the Mandarin, but who knows.

This and Eternals I’m excited for because I know so little about the Characters. It’ll be a lot like the guardians where I knew next to nothing about it going in.

 

19 hours ago, DoWorx said:

Pretty sure they mentioned the 10 rings in n Dr. Strange

 

14 hours ago, Green_Guinness said:

The 10 Rings is a reference to the Mandarin.  There's a Marvel short film about it.  We all know from watching Iron Man 3 that the Mandarin was just Trevor, but there is a true Mandarin that leads the 10 Rings organization from the short film.

This MCU wiki notes where the Ten Rings appeared in the movies:

• Iron Man: The group that kidnapped Tony (his fellow captor in the cave tells him they are the Ten Rings)
• Iron Man 2: a Ten Rings member gives Ivan Vanko credentials to get into the Monaco race to attack Tony
• Iron Man 3 prelude (was this a special feature on the DVD or something?): the Ten Rings tried to trap Rhodes and steal his suit but failed
• Iron Man 3: Adrian Killian of course faked the Mandarin and blamed the Ten Rings for his actions.  The additional feature on the DVD "Marvel One-Shot: All Hail the King" revealed the real Mandarin is running the Ten Rings
• Ant-Man: A member of the Ten Rings was present at the Pym Technologies building when Darren Cross presented the Yellowjacket to potential buyers. 

 

[20Safety_Hazards]

1 hour ago, NOTW said:

I guess since Sam is from a different generation and his experience in the military was different.  He also became a public figure on the Avengers after the existence of people with abilities was already known.  He was embraced.  Both Isaiah and Bucky were experimented on. Bucky knows exactly how and why it could happen to Isaiah because it happened to him.  

If you're talking about racial justice issues, I think that was poor writing. Anyone alive today knows how things were and that there are continued racial justice issues today.  It makes sense that both are from different generations and for Isaiah to feel the way he does, but it's dumb for Sam to play ignorant of racial issues even today.  He could have stuck with a "things are different now" response with regard to him taking the Cap mantle.

Isaiah tells him America will never accept a Black Captain America.  Never mind the fact that a black man Rhodes was the Iron Patriot paraded around by the military in the media, the symbol of freedom and protected the President of the United States in Iron Man 3.  That didn't count I guess.  

I don’t think Sam was ever blind to racism, but he never experienced it like Isaiah did. The bank scene made that clear. But Sam’s experience is very different from others in the African American community and he spent most of this time working with Cap who, by all accounts, should no sign of racial prejudice. But even still, I think it was pretty clearly implied that was part of his reasoning for retiring the shield was because of race. 

As for Isaiah, I can understand his position. His views are molded by his experience, one where he did exactly what Steve did in WW2 (disobeying an order, rescuing his teammates) but while Steve was a hero, Isaiah was arrested, locked in solitary for 30 years and experimented on. I can easily understand why he would reject the idea that America would accept a Black Cap, and ignore Rhodey as Iron Patriot.  Cap always represented the American Ideal. Iron Patriot was not held up as a beacon or symbol like Cap was, and was quickly abandoned shortly after the incident in IM3 and never replaced. 

I don’t think Sam or Isaiah are completely in the right, nor any other character. But I think there is truth in both their views. This show is all about the grey areas. I think one of the things I’ve appreciated about this show is the exploration of the idea of how our experiences mold our point of view. Zemo’s line in response to Sam’s complaint about looking like a pimp as a purely American viewpoint is a good example of that.  A major reason for Bucky and Sam’s friction over the shield is they did not understand they other sides point of view (specifically molded by their life experiences). 

[devpool]

6 hours ago, NOTW said:

I guess since Sam is from a different generation and his experience in the military was different.  He also became a public figure on the Avengers after the existence of people with abilities was already known.  He was embraced.  Both Isaiah and Bucky were experimented on. Bucky knows exactly how and why it could happen to Isaiah because it happened to him.  

If you're talking about racial justice issues, I think that was poor writing. Anyone alive today knows how things were and that there are continued racial justice issues today.  It makes sense that both are from different generations and for Isaiah to feel the way he does, but it's dumb for Sam to play ignorant of racial issues even today.  He could have stuck with a "things are different now" response with regard to him taking the Cap mantle.

Isaiah tells him America will never accept a Black Captain America.  Never mind the fact that a black man Rhodes was the Iron Patriot paraded around by the military in the media, the symbol of freedom and protected the President of the United States in Iron Man 3.  That didn't count I guess.  

Yea mostly talking about the second paragraph down, I agree it is poor writing. Yes sam may not have had to deal with everything that Isiah did as a black man but if he can't fathom it at all he has to have been living under a rock his entire life 

[Alpha_TATEr]

19 hours ago, 20Safety_Hazards said:

 

I don’t think Sam or Isaiah are completely in the right, nor any other character. But I think there is truth in both their views. This show is all about the grey areas. I think one of the things I’ve appreciated about this show is the exploration of the idea of how our experiences mold our point of view. Zemo’s line in response to Sam’s complaint about looking like a pimp as a purely American viewpoint is a good example of that.  

i think you nailed it here. the show is definitely pushing the grey areas and making you think about how the other side may have a different point of view, and explaining it.  

[UK_EaglesFan89]

I really like the look of Shang-Chi. I didn't think I would like it as I'm not huge on Martial Arts style films but it looks really good. 

[Mike030270]

Marvel doing a horror movie sounds interesting 

[wholesale_Melvin]

^ though not marvel studios, it was called The New Mutants and it bombed.

[Mike030270]

 

[The_Omega]

Falcon and the Winter Soldier - Wandavision was better.

[devpool]

6 minutes ago, The_Omega said:

Falcon and the Winter Soldier - Wandavision was better.

100%, and it isn't even close. Mackie screwed again in this episode by terrible writing. His like 5 minute rambling "inspirational speech" was horrible, it was all over the place. 

Overall, for me, every single episode was 15-20 minutes too long. The writing was not good enough to justify 50 minute episodes when there would be maybe 10-15 minutes of action. They also had a terrible habit of putting most of the action in the first 15-20 minutes or so leaving nothing but terrible dialog for the following 25.

That said, I don't think it was bad but it definitely isn't worthy of any awards.

[paco]

Wednesday night we moved the 55" out of our bedroom and into the guest room.  In its place (well, sort of, put the bracket on a different wall) I hung our 65" smart TV.  So when last night when schmoopie decided to take a bath to unwind I FINALLY put on the first episode.

 

Before I continue, please remember schmoopie has NOT watched a marvel movie.  I tried to get her to watch GotG but she kinda tuned it out.

 

So anyway, I'm chilling watching the the first episode letting the Advil PM kick in.  She walks into the room during the last scene moments before they unveil the new Captain America.

 

"THAT'S Captain America!?!?!?! Why is he such a dork!?!?!?"  

 

I'm still not sure if she thought that was Captain America this whole time or if she understood that was Wal*Mart brand Captain America.   

[Mike030270]

I had high hopes but it dragged a lot and was boring

[NOTW]

Meh. Entertaining but not great. 

It was the writing.

[20Safety_Hazards]

I have mixed feelings about Falcon and Winter Soldier. 

Pros

• Sebastian Stan killed it in this show. His one-liners were some of the best moments, and he also had the most powerful acting scenes.
• I liked that they went through a journey to getting Sam to Captain America. I love his new suit, as it opens a lot of interesting fight choreography moving forward and explains how he can fight without the serum. Using the Jets to power his shield throw was a cool example.
• The fight and action scenes in this show were really good. The fight for the shield in particular was excellent. 
• Zemo was great and, for the second straight time, he got exactly what he wanted. I like a Villian whose always several steps ahead. 
• Walker, hate the character but really liked the performance. I like the idea of introducing more anti-heroes in the MCU. 
• I really enjoyed the introduction of Isaiah Bradley. I liked that he got his recognition at the end and it opens the door for Patriot in a potentially young avengers team up. 

Cons

• The writing was a little lackluster at times. I don’t think it was as bad as others are making it out to be. But I think some of the storylines got away from them.
• I hate Sharon as the power broker. I don’t hate the idea of it I hate the execution of it. Sharon had a cash cow in her scientist making serum and then she led Zemo who was armed straight to him? Makes No sense. Then she gets pardoned and admits on the steps of the government building she’s going to sell state secrets and weapons. Stupid. 
• The use of Batroc in the finale was disappointing. 
• I wish we got more from the Flagsmashers. We got enough to understand their motivation but I think it would have strengthened Sam’s speech at the end if we really got more insight to how messed up the grc’s actions were.
• I kinda wish Sam didn’t introduce himself as Captain America. Other than in the first movie when he’s breaking the men out of the hydra base, Steve never introduced himself as Captain America. It was always everyone else who called him that. It would have been a really nice contrast to John Walker who always said he was Captain America. Don’t get me wrong, I’m glad he is Captain America and I loved his journey to get there. I just think it would have been more powerful if others acknowledged him with the title and him accepting it rather than moments within him arriving on the scene he calls himself Captain America. Bucky calling him Cap at the end though was a nice touch.

[NOTW]

Woke Marvel: don't call them terrorists.

Mkay.

[NOTW]

The show tried to do way too much in a 6 episode limited series.  As a result, not all the story lines were developed enough.  They also bounced back and forth between some things and it didn't always seem the story was moving forward.  Zemo was perhaps introduced too early.  Sharon as the power broker was not a surprise twist at all it was obvious in the episode where she was introduced, and an unnecessary plot point.  She witnessed first hand being a part of SHIELD and having Hydra work within, and now she is going to do the same thing, yet she also helped Sam and Bucky to fight against essentially her own people.  

They crammed all this into a 6 episode limited series:

• Sam and Bucky's relationship now that Steve is gone, the one that connected them
• Sam and Bucky's career purpose after Endgame and no more Avengers team
• Sam's family business struggles
• Bucky in therapy making amends for his actions as the Winter Soldier
• Bucky's personal relationship with one man he was to make amends with, and flirting with the bartender they never came back to that
• Global political issues with handling those who returned from the blip
• New super soldier serum
• Terrorist group taking the serum and attacking the GRC (was that what it was called?)
• Discovery of Isaiah and race relations in his era
• Sam dealing with racial profiling (denied bank loan, cops pull him over and harass)
• America is racist, will never accept a black Captain America
• Military anoints a new Captain America, John Walker
• Former SHIELD/CIA agent now runs a criminal underworld
• Baron Zemo brought back and has his own plans to stop the super soldiers
• Wakandans show up to fight Zemo and get in the way of Sam and Bucky's plan to use Zemo to find the terrorists
• Contessa or whatever Val's title was shows up to give John Walker a chance to put his skills to use after no longer being Captain America

That's way too much.  Either make it 12 episodes and spread that stuff out, or cut some of it out altogether and keep it simpler.

[Talkingbirds]

Jack Black gets super soldier serum.

https://www.instagram.com/tv/COBvNa-nTy7/?igshid=vyqgnjoosjny

[Mike030270]

[Green_Guinness]

42 minutes ago, Mike030270 said:

The difference between being used like a machine/weapon where you have no conscious decision making and where you are an old schooler from a simpler time where the lines of good v evil are more clear cut and you get to decide which side to fight for.  Yeah, he was totally bad ass as the Winter Solider when first introduced as such, but his first introduction was as Sgt. Bucky Barnes, an American solider who fought for the 'little guy' (beating the ish out of that ahole who was beating on the wimpy Steve Rodgers in an alley behind the movie theater) and the cause of WW2.  So to get his mind back from being manipulated by Hydra to be a more human Terminator the difference is more clearly defined.  Granted, would still like to see him kick more ass during fight scenes than he did since he's a super solider with a Vibranium arm.  He's trying to be that Bucky Barnes that saved Steve from a beating and make up for things he was forced to do when he had no control, but he should still have that ability to fight without prejudice and 'win at all costs' if the situation calls for it.  I guess they want to play to his more 'human' side from the 40s. 

And I would have liked to see more flirting with that sexy bartender.  Bucky still needs a life closer to normal and she seemed cool.  The fact they brought her back for the last episode when they could have easily bypassed that makes me think if they continue with this (and after Sharon's phone call there's room to think it's not just one and done) that she might be a part of it.

 

[Mike030270]

It’s a meme lol

I think he was just holding back because his work with his therapist of not wanting to hurt people

[UK_EaglesFan89]

15 hours ago, NOTW said:

That's way too much.  Either make it 12 episodes and spread that stuff out, or cut some of it out altogether and keep it simpler.

Agreed. I really enjoyed it but there was too much going on. They could have either done a longer season or saved stuff for another season. 

[devpool]

22 hours ago, NOTW said:

Woke Marvel: don't call them terrorists.

Mkay.

I thought the same thing if you don't want people to think they're terrorists, maybe don't have them act like it. They were the literal definition of terrorists!! That whole speech was horrible.

[BFit]

People in this thread when wandavision came out: these episodes are too short, they should make them 20 minutes longer and just do a shorter season!

People in this thread when falcon and winter soldier came out: these episodes are 20 minutes too long, make em shorter and do more episodes

People in this thread when loki comes out (probably): this show either needs to be 20 minutes longer or 20 minutes shorter!

 

 

[mikemack8]

Sharon as a villain is an absolute joke 

[UK_EaglesFan89]

3 hours ago, mikemack8 said:

Sharon as a villain is an absolute joke 

Yeah I don't get that one either.